In another twist to the development model — as a way to boost the creativity of comedy writers — Fox is scrapping the decades-old ritual of creators going to the network executives' offices to pitch their ideas.

"We're not going to take most of our comedy pitches in our office," Reilly said. "We're going to go out and meet the writers on their own turf, and that could be at a restaurant (or) their house, anything that gets it out of a sterile environment."

The network also will be offering comedy writers a little money to go and film their ideas, making the footage a part of the pitch.

"I feel like right now there is an opportunity for young voices to come up," Reilly said.

This, of course, is an unbelievable opportunity for green writers to sprout up from the scorched earth of the WGA strike. But while Reilly's idea of "pitching outside the box" might be limited to listening intently to the outline of a family-in-space sitcom at the Century City food court, we'd encourage you to maximize the site-specific nature of your meeting—say, by having Reilly and the gang join you for a midnight tour of Hollywood Forever, where the spooky mood will be perfectly set to pitch Zombie Accountants and its hilarious tagline, "Braaaains....And refunds!"

• Fox divides development cycle [THR]

Reilly, who memorably joined the Fox family following the Memorial Day Massacre, is now the one who gets to make his rivals cling to such crazy hopes as his weapon of mass primetime destruction lays waste to everything in its timeslot path, though he can't have been happy to discover that last night's Idol offering was the juggernaut's lowest-rated premiere in four years and down 11 percent from the 2007 debut. Still, that's barely a fart in the Nielsen hurricane considering that it (preliminarily) drew an average of 33.2 million freakshow-hungry viewers (we attribute any loss of eyeballs entirely to the network's misguided decision to hold back Paula Abdul from her critically acclaimed, nap-riddled What The Hell Is She On Today? promotional tour), and more than enough for Reilly to carry through on any potential, revenge-motivated plans to strike back at his Peacock usurper by scheduling a series of "American Idol Presents A Musical Fuck You To Ben Silverman" specials wherever the NBC perfect storm chooses to run his beloved new episodes of American Gladiators.

• 'American Idol' Premiere Lowest Rated in Four Years [TV Week]

"The industry hasn't seen an executive like me in a long time," Silverman says. "Traditionally, development executives rise through a specific subsection of the TV business — prime time, network, scripted programming. They're basically D-girls," he says, using the derogatory industry slang for cute young development execs with little power. "That's what [ABC Entertainment president] Steve McPherson is, that's what [Fox Entertainment president] Kevin Reilly is. That's bad vernacular, but they're all D-girls."

Questions have also been raised about Silverman's treatment of Kevin Reilly, who, two years after significantly boosting Reveille's profile by saving The Office, lost his job in what some believe was a coup. "We were friends," Silverman says of Reilly. "But he's been shockingly lacking grace. Everyone knows that somebody doesn't show up and say, 'Hey, I want that job.' That's not how it works. You get pursued." Though Silverman isn't shy about questioning some of Reilly's decisions. "The more I'm inside it," he says, "the more I recognize how things could have been done better. Like, how can you order a Studio 60 and a 30 Rock? How could you ever order two shows about the same subject matter and put numbers in their titles? That's so transparently flawed to me. And why would you put on Martha Stewart and Donald Trump at the same time under the same brand [The Apprentice] twice a week? I would never have done that." [...]

"He's a moron," Silverman says of McPherson, his voice raising. "I delivered him a huge hit that he didn't want: Ugly Betty. He hated the show, he didn't want America Ferrera, he didn't understand why I pitched it to him seventeen times and wouldn't stop. Then it delivered despite that. And every time we would do well, he'd try to find some issue with it. I think he wishes he had been a producer. He's a sad man, like a miserable guy stuck operating as an executive. And it probably makes him nuts that this kid who's five years younger than him is producing hit shows and then goes and gets his job in an end run — and a much bigger job than he has." (McPherson and Reilly declined to respond; an ABC spokeswoman says Silverman's Ugly Betty story is inaccurate and distorts the way the pitch process works.)

Let's hope that everyone's not too busy with trying to keep their strike-hampered networks afloat for these latest tensions to really fester, for this could be the beginning of a deeply satisfying, entertaining feud. Perhaps the next volley will be fired jointly by Reilly and McPherson, who can commission an enormous cake (it always comes back to that cake) depicting the now-infamous Silverman/Peacock chimera being disembowelled by coyotes bearing the Fox and ABC logos, a gift featuring a level of gruesome detail so disturbing (how did Silverman's Blackberry wind up jammed into the sensitive area beneath his colorful tail feathers?) that the spooked executive will never travel outside of the safety of NBC without muscle borrowed from the set of his American Gladiators remake.

• It's Ten O'Clock. Do You Know Where Your Network President Is? [Esquire]
• Previously: NBC's Ben Silverman Handicaps The Fall TV Season [Defamer]

Sonnenfeld quickly set the tone Tuesday by opening with a story about the size of his penis.

He followed up by asking such off-the-cuff questions as "Do you get more sex as an independent producer or an executive, and has sex changed?" (to NBC's Ben Silverman); "Do you agree that Peter Liguori is so handsome, you have to punch him in the face?" (to Fox's Kevin Reilly); "Has Les Moonves ever threatened to kill one of you?" (to CBS' Nina Tassler and the CW's Dawn Ostroff); and, to all of them, "If death was not an option, who would you rather drive in a car with cross country — Les Moonves in a really bad mood or Steve McPherson?"

While Sonnenfeld kept much of the attention on himself with his lighthearted dick jokes and fun, hypothetical questions about potentially fatal road trips with TV's deadliest personalities, at least one panelist managed to make a trade paper's highlights list, as TV Week chooses its top "Oh no you di'int, Mr. Sassy Programming Executive!" moment:

Even by softball HRTS standards, Sonnenfeld seemed mainly interested in his own personal musings — such as asking why his pitch meetings take so long, and how many hours executives spend reading scripts instead of spending time at home.

Actually, that latter question did prompt one exchange that for some was worth the price of admission. Silverman tried to gamely poke fun at his partygoer image by saying that, instead of spending time with his family like the other network executives, he's busy "dating their kids." Reilly leaned over and said, "I have two boys," and the audience hooted.

Now twice-shamed by the barbs of his network rivals in a public forum, an atypically dejected Silverman was later overheard quietly muttering into his BlackBerry, hinting to an NBC underling that he'd be "totally psyched" if when he returned to the office following the panel, everyone "surprised" him with a party where he and his staff would share pieces of a delicious cake depicting him ripping out Kevin Reilly's small intestines with his razor-sharp peacock claws, "you know, just if we have one of those laying around somewhere."

[Photo: Getty Images]

• Sonnenfeld steals show at HRTS panel [THR]
• HRTS Smackdown: Network Chiefs on Best Behavior [TV Week]

And as for the guy who challenged his manhood over the way he handled the aftermath of Reilly's unexpected firing, Silverman acknowledges there's some buzz on Pushing Daises, but does take a shot at Steve McPherson's beloved Cavemen, which internet blogsite Cavefamer has called "twenty-two rollicking, Cro-Magtastic minutes of laughing and thinking that will make you forget all about auto-insurance commercials!"

• NBC Exec Predicts Which Fall Shows Succeed [YouTube]
• Previously: Getting To Know Ben Silverman IV: A Perfect Storm Of A TV Executive [Defamer]

Silverman told reporters at his July 16 session with the Television Critics Association that he had begun talking with Washington "before he became available" and said he was shocked when ABC decided to let him go. "When he told me he was available I was like, 'You are? Wait, I don't understand. What do you mean? You're a huge star on a star television show.'" he said. "I don't quite understand what had gone on there."

McPherson told reporters Thursday after his TCA session that "if (Silverman) was in fact talking to him before he was available, that's inducement to breach. So I don't know, he's either clueless or stupid."

As to Silverman saying he didn't understand the circumstances surrounding the firing of Washington, McPherson said: "Was he living in a cave?"

While we'd normally take that cue to segue into a discussion of today's Cavemen panel (more on that later), we still have the matter of McPherson's questioning of Silverman's manhood over his handling of Kevin Reilly's firing, as reported by THR:

Talking with reporters after ABC's opening session during the Television Critics Assn.'s summer press tour, McPherson accused Silverman of being evasive at an NBC press conference last week relating to the dismissal of Reilly on the heels of Silverman joining NBC Universal. Known to be a close friend of Reilly's, McPherson quoted Silverman's comment "I just got here" and challenged him to address the issue. "Be a man," McPherson said of Silverman.

McPherson suggested Silverman owed the success of his former production company, Reveille, to Reilly, who pushed for the Silverman-produced series "The Office" to remain on the air despite initial weak ratings. "He in essence made Reveille," McPherson said of Reilly.

McPherson made it known he thought NBC Uni treated Reilly poorly in terms of his dismissal. "When you see a friend treated the way he was treated, you're going to stand up for him," he said.

Reached on his European vacation via his ubiquitous Blackberry to respond to McPherson's potentially feud-igniting remarks, Silverman was somewhat nonplussed, but typically optimistic that the hubbub would blow over quickly, writing: "Steve? Mad? At me? Over I-Wash and the K-Man? For real? Steve's my dog! We have Ugly Betty together! When I get back to L.A., me and Stevester are gonna sit down at the Chateau and throw back some shots, and by the end of the night, we'll have a groundbreaking three-season deal to cross-promote the shit out of Heroes and Lost. Oh, and Seacrest says hi! LOL! See you back in La-la land, lovers! xoxox Ben."

• ABC Exec Calls NBC "Clueless or Stupid" About Isaiah [TVGuide.com]
• TCA: ABC's McPherson defends Reilly [THR]

[Photo: Getty Images]

• Fox names Reilly president [Variety]
• Previously: Report: Kevin Reilly Already In Talks To Class Up Fox [Defamer]

The rumors hold that Reilly's still-undefined job might involve him assuming programming responsibilities at Fox, allowing Liguori, whose greatest accomplishment of the past two-plus years has been resisting the deliciously suicidal impulse to cancel American Idol just to see if his entire operation instantaneously disappears into a Nielsen-generated black hole, to take on a "broader role overseeing the network." Still, we worry that the men have grown apart since their FX days, as Reilly's self-destructive obsession with low-rated "class" will almost certainly come into conflict with Fox's maniacal dedication to the smoothing of demographically desirable brains. Then again, maybe their outwardly differing philosophies will create some kind of unexpected synthesis, with Reilly bringing over Aaron Sorkin to preside over a hit gameshow in which contestants are kicked in the genitals following each failure to correctly answer questions about current events of geopolitical import.

• Kevin Reilly in talks to join Fox [Variety]
• Reilly heading for Fox reunion? [THR]

TelevisionWeek: What are your goals for NBC?

Ben Silverman: To continue the great legacy of NBC and its unbelievable quality of programming. To be the No. 1 network. To be the absolute biggest and best brand in broadcast television. And more important, to be the most lucrative network. [...]

TVWeek: What's your take on the pilots and fall schedule?

Mr. Silverman: I have not seen all the pilots yet. I thought Zach Levi, the star of "Chuck," was phenomenal and really fun, and that show had the kind of environment I want to be in. I always loved "The Bionic Woman" growing up and eagerly await seeing her powers come to fruition, but have not watched it yet. And I'm excited to see "Journeyman," which I hear is phenomenal from everyone I know who has seen it. I'm sure we're going to get some hits out of them.

Now installed in his new position, Silverman should have some time to breathe and catch up on his pilot-watching to see if Bionic Woman actually feels like a hit, and, in the interest of properly instilling the culture of "peace, love, and understanding" discussed in the interview, finally get someone to clean the blood of freshly slaughtered predecessor Kevin Reilly from his office walls. There's nothing like the lingering stench of a recent
execution to stifle an otherwise aspirational, positive atmosphere.

[Photo: Getty Images]

• Silverman Setting New NBC Agenda [TV Week]

We are announcing today a change of leadership at NBC Entertainment and the NBC Universal Television Studio. I'm pleased to tell you that, effective immediately, Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff assume the roles of co-chairmen. Marc has been serving as President, NBC Universal Television, West Coast, and Ben is the founder and CEO of Reveille, which has provided NBC and our cable properties with many of their most significant and innovative programs in recent years.

This is a wonderful opportunity for us to capitalize on Ben's creative talents and unique vision and Marc's executive leadership skills. They will be a very effective team. And, of course, we are excited that all of Ben's creative efforts will now be directed toward strengthening our programming not only on-air but online as well.

Kevin Reilly, who has served NBC Entertainment as President for the past three years, will be leaving the company as the result of these changes. He has championed incredibly important, high-quality series in recent years. Kevin has delivered a very promising slate of programs for the upcoming season, and I personally want to thank him for all his efforts and wish him all the best in the next phase of his professional career.

Please join me in congratulating Marc on his new role and welcoming Ben as a full-time member of the NBCU team.

See the full press release below, which is being sent to the media today.

BEN SILVERMAN AND MARC GRABOFF NAMED CO-CHAIRMEN OF NBC ENTERTAINMENT
AND NBC UNIVERSAL TELEVISION STUDIO

Silverman Brings Award-Winning Track Record to NBC

BURBANK - May 29, 2007 — Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Ben Silverman, the prolific producer and program executive behind such television hits as "The Office," "Ugly Betty," and "The Biggest Loser," as well as the man who brought "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and "Big Brother" to the United States, is becoming a senior executive at NBC Universal. Silverman and veteran NBCU executive Marc Graboff have been appointed Co-Chairmen of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio.

The announcement was made today by Jeff Zucker, President and CEO, NBC Universal, to whom both Silverman and Graboff will report.

"We are extremely thrilled to have Ben on board. After years of working with him as an agent, a supplier to both our broadcast and cable networks, and as a producer, we've come to know him as one of the most savvy and successful executives in the industry," said Zucker. "I always thought this was the right job for Ben. This new role will give him the opportunity to redefine our programming, our relationship with advertisers, and our ongoing commitment to the new digital frontier."

Continued Zucker: "Marc is a proven and respected executive whose wealth of expertise in so many divisions will continue to be a huge plus in this realignment. He has superb business acumen and an instinctive grasp of our expanding company and its multiple platforms, and is positioning NBC for the future. Marc and Ben have a long and successful history of working together that gives us tremendous confidence in the strength of this new partnership."

Kevin Reilly, who has served as President of NBC Entertainment for the past three years, and NBCU have mutually agreed to end their relationship. "Kevin has given us some incredibly important, high-quality new series in recent years, and his legacy will be evident for many years to come in NBC's primetime schedule," said Zucker. "I want to thank him for all of his efforts on behalf of the company."

In their new roles, Silverman and Graboff will have responsibility for all aspects of the network's primetime, late-night and daytime programming, and will also oversee the entertainment division's digital efforts, including NBC.com, and all of the network and television studio's creative, marketing, business, and financial components.

Said Graboff: "I am very excited about the opportunity to partner with someone like Ben. He's a brilliant producer and a true out-of-the-box thinker who wants to change the business model of this industry. We complement each other very well and together will be a strong team to guide NBC through a period of enormous change and opportunity."

Added Silverman: "I grew up watching NBC and have always loved this network. So this is a dream job for me. And what a thrill it is to be partnering with Marc. We have had great success across the table from each other and I can't wait to be working side-by-side with him to help shape NBC's future during this time of incredible excitement and unprecedented change."

Graboff, who was named President, NBC Universal Television, West Coast, in February 2007, will also continue his leadership role in Domestic TV Distribution. Barry Wallach, President, Domestic TV Distribution, will continue to report to Graboff.

Silverman is the founder and CEO of Reveille, a leading independent production and distribution company. Earlier this year, Reveille entered into an expanded and creative arrangement with NBC Universal that gave both the broadcast network and the company's cable properties a first look at all scripted and unscripted projects. With today's announcement, that deal has been extended for two more years.

For full bios on Silverman and Graboff, visit NBC Universal's press website at www.nbcumv.com.

Prez Kevin Reilly has been fired. Yes, it's finally over for him. And everything's been resolved regarding that new contract Jeff Zucker gave him back in March. (My understanding is that when I reported that Reilly was being replaced, he didn't know anything about it. That Zucks!)

Meanwhile, NBC has clinched 36-year-old prolific producer Ben Silverman as its new showbiz honcho. He'll have a bigger title than Reilly did. It'll be NBC Universal West Coast chairman or something...

Reilly signed a three-year contract in March, meaning his departure will come with a generous compensatory package—yet that will likely be little consolation for the prestige programmer, who now finds himself victim of a classic Hollywood supplantation, having been replaced by a younger, sleeker model. Who could have known that the man responsible for one of NBC's few post-Friends sitcom successes, The Office, would one day unseat the very network head he obliged with a vanity cameo on that very series?

• NBC SHAKE-UP UPDATE: Kevin Reilly Officially Out. Ben Silverman Offered Bigger Job. Marc Graboff Upped. [Deadline Hollywood]
• Reilly out at NBC [Variety]

In between super-sizing, over-ordering, and spinning off every decently rated property on its current programming roster, NBC managed to slip a couple of semi-original shows onto its Fall schedule. To whet your appetite for their upcoming September offerings, the network has posted a number of teasers to its YouTube page, including the above clip from its Bionic Woman update. Network president Kevin Reilly did proudly disclose his "choke on our classy hits" strategy yesterday, so we're not too surprised to discover that the show feels a little like Heroes in atmosphere (why not just go all the way and have the one with the pissed-off reflection turn up to bust Jamie out of the hospital?). If you're still feeling nostalgic for the original even after watching the rebuilt heroine nearly kill her physician because she's less than thrilled with her new legs, a clip of its classic opening credits follows after the jump:

• Bionic Woman — Coming to NBC [YouTube]
• Bionic Woman Tv Show Intro [YouTube]
• Previously: NBC Hoping Your Appetite For Its High-Quality Hits Is Insatiable [Defamer]

A reporter asks Reilly (paraphrased): "Since you're committed to renewing good shows even if they have low ratings, does that mean 'Studio 60' wasn't a good show?"

Nearly everybody — including NBC Universal President-CEO Jeff Zucker — finds this question funny. Reilly replies that "Studio 60" received "a mixed response," even within NBC. Showrunner Aaron Sorkin "was doing the show he wanted to do. ... It just kind of felt like that show had kind of run its course. ... I have no regrets."

To further demonstrate that the network is dedicated to the rising stars of its future and not to dwelling on the low-rated misfires of the past, with a sharp clap of his hands Reilly summoned his Bionic Woman (9 p.m. Wednesday nights) to the stage, who then delighted all ad sales personnel in attendance by ceremonially suffocating Studio 60 breakout character Lobster Boy with a pillow emblazoned with NBC's proud peacock logo, a display that drove Sorkin—who'd shown up on the crazy hope he'd get a surprise second season order—from the venue in tears.

• Reilly Deconstructs Schedule [TV Week Blog]
• Previously: NBC Hoping Your Appetite For Its High-Quality Hits Is Insatiable [Defamer]

"We've got the class and next season we're ready to add some mass, with new shows that build on the creative accomplishments of last season and are as broad as they are good. Combine the energy of these new programs with the bulked-up strength of our existing NBC hits and you've got a lineup that's poised to take us to the next level."

Unfortunately, Reilly's "Class + Mass=Keep My Job For Another Season" formula (an earlier incarnation, "You like our high-quality hits? Then choke on them, bitches," was rewritten so as not to offend conservative advertisers) left no room for a fresh sitcom on the Fall schedule; their first new comedy offering, The IT Crowd (think The Office, but with computer nerds) won't arrive until midseason. And, in news that will certainly plunge its legion of dedicated, affluent, and upscale fans into self-mutilating depths of despair, it appears that not even the maverick, class-craving Reilly could find a place in primetime for Studio 60, officially ending Aaron Sorkin's failed tenure as the network's Nielsen Messiah.

The full NBC schedule (via THR) follows:

MONDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Deal or No Deal"
9-10 p.m.: "Heroes"
10-11 p.m.: "JOURNEYMAN"

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m.: "The Biggest Loser"
9-10 p.m.: "CHUCK"
10-11 p.m.: "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Deal or No Deal"
9-10 p.m.: "BIONIC WOMAN"
10-11 p.m.: "LIFE"

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m.: "My Name Is Earl"
8:30-9 p.m.: "30 Rock"
9-9:30 p.m.: "The Office"
9:30-10 p.m.: "Scrubs"
10-11 p.m.: "ER"

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m.: "1 vs 100"/"THE SINGING BEE"
9-10 p.m.: "Las Vegas"
10-11 p.m.: "Friday Night Lights"

SATURDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Dateline NBC"
9-11 p.m.: Drama Series Encores

SUNDAY (Fall 2007)
7-8 p.m.: "Football Night in America"
8-11 p.m.: "NBC Sunday Night Football"

• NBC announces schedule, shows [Variety]
• No new comedies on the peacock's fall schedule [THR]

• 'Studio 60' Returning in May [Zap2it.com]
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip [NBC.com]
• Previously: 'Studio 60' CancellationWatch: Sorkin And Company Quietly Playing Out The String [Defamer]